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Girl · Hebrew, through English
Molly
Say it: MOL-ee
Meaning
A medieval pet form of Mary, from Hebrew Miryam, whose meaning is uncertain.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Long a nickname for Mary in England and Ireland, it has been given as a name in its own right since the 18th century.
Its wave through time
Most used in the 1990s
In the United States
- 168,871 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1991, about 1 in 403 girls
- 1,635 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Mollie, Molley
Famous bearers
- Molly Pitcher, legendary heroine of the American Revolution
- Molly Ringwald, American actress
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Parish baptism registers
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.